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Larimer County to host public forum for open lands Wednesday

Topics to include new recreational activities and local agriculture outside city limits

By Saja Hindi

Reporter-Herald Staff Writer

Posted:
04/28/2014 06:55:17 PM MDT

Updated:
04/28/2014 06:55:31 PM MDT

The Larimer County Department of Natural Resources will host an Open Lands Master Plan public forum at the Rio Grande Agave Room in Fort Collins from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Wednesday. The meeting is an opportunity for residents to provide feedback about its Open Lands Master Plan.

The meeting will cover new recreational activities and local agriculture. The county partners with all of its cities and towns, but the focus of this study will be outside city limits. The cities of Fort Collins and Loveland are also in the process of working on their own master plans.

Zac Wiebe, Our Lands — Our Future Study project manager, said the department completed its regional study last year since the last plan, adopted in 2001, is outdated. Though the county has received a significant amount of feedback throughout the process, Wiebe said this meeting will serve to dig deeper.

"We want to get public feedback about what they like to do on our open spaces and what they would like to see more of," Wiebe said.

Officials are also aiming to find out more about the public's level of education surrounding local agriculture and residents' understanding of the differences between large production and Community-Supported Agriculture (CSAs).

"We're definitely very interested in learning people's viewpoints about local agriculture — what they know about it, what they feel is the county's role," Wiebe said.

The county currently has conservation easements on working farms and ranches and leases some of its open spaces for grazing and growing food, and officials want to initiate public discourse on these policies and find out what changes to make for the future.

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And although priority areas for conservation in the county and rivers and restoration in the flooding are at the top of everyone's minds, Wiebe said the county will plan a separate assessment, specific to the Big Thompson Canyon.

"The master plan won't really examine efforts in response to the flooding," he said. "It's more of an overall countywide long-term plan."

However, part of the county's recommendations, Wiebe said, could include mitigating impacts of flooding in the future on a higher level with more of an emphasis on protecting land.

The next steps after the public forum will include hosting focus groups, creating a first draft of the plan and then giving opportunity for the general public to provide feedback.

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